Database of active faults in Slovenia: geologic input into seismic hazard assessment at national scale

Author(s):  
Jure Atanackov ◽  
Petra Jamšek Rupnik ◽  
Miloš Bavec ◽  
Bogomir Celarc ◽  
Jernej Jež ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 184 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Baize ◽  
Edward Marc Cushing ◽  
Francis Lemeille ◽  
Hervé Jomard

Abstract This work presents the seismotectonic zoning scheme of Metropolitan France developed by the IRSN (French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety) within the framework of its seismic hazard assessment activities. It is the outcome of many years of work following the publication of the “seismotectonic atlas” in 1993 [Grellet et al., 1993]. This scheme supports the assessment of seismic hazard by IRSN. It takes into account the most recent data concerning the deep and surface geology, as well as those related to seismotectonics and tectonic activity. It finally includes 67 surface seismotectonic zones (STZ), as well as a catalogue of 74 faults or structures (named hereafter “potential active faults”) for which indications of Neogene to Quaternary displacement can be inferred. The description of the zoning scheme comes along with an estimation of the uncertainty on the boundary location between adjacent STZ. We also qualitatively determine a “relevance order” for each limit, so as to illustrate their reliability to separate regions of different seismogenic potential. Also, we attributed to the faults an indication whose purpose is to reflect the recent character of their activity, and thus their seismotectonic potential. This assessment of uncertainties was undertaken to better integrate the zoning scheme in the general approach, which arises from recent studies, namely the propagation of the uncertainties in seismic hazard evaluation, whether deterministic or probabilistic.


Author(s):  
L. Moratto ◽  
A. Vuan ◽  
A. Saraò ◽  
D. Slejko ◽  
C. Papazachos ◽  
...  

AbstractTo ensure environmental and public safety, critical facilities require rigorous seismic hazard analysis to define seismic input for their design. We consider the case of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is a pipeline that transports natural gas from the Caspian Sea to southern Italy, crossing active faults and areas characterized by high seismicity levels. For this pipeline, we develop a Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment (PSHA) for the broader area, and, for the selected critical sites, we perform deterministic seismic hazard assessment (DSHA), by calculating shaking scenarios that account for the physics of the source, propagation, and site effects. This paper presents a DSHA for a compressor station located at Fier, along the Albanian coastal region. Considering the location of the most hazardous faults in the study site, revealed by the PSHA disaggregation, we model the ground motion for two different scenarios to simulate the worst-case scenario for this compressor station. We compute broadband waveforms for receivers on soft soils by applying specific transfer functions estimated from the available geotechnical data for the Fier area. The simulations reproduce the variability observed in the ground motion recorded in the near-earthquake source. The vertical ground motion is strong for receivers placed above the rupture areas and should not be ignored in seismic designs; furthermore, our vertical simulations reproduce the displacement and the static offset of the ground motion highlighted in recent studies. This observation confirms the importance of the DSHA analysis in defining the expected pipeline damage functions and permanent soil deformations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 6719-6784 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Vamvakaris ◽  
C. B. Papazachos ◽  
C. Papaioannou ◽  
E. M. Scordilis ◽  
G. F. Karakaisis

Abstract. In the present work we present an effort to define a new seismic zonation model of area type sources for the broader Aegean area, which can be readily used for seismic hazard assessment. The definition of this model is based not only on seismicity information but incorporates all available seismotectonic and neotectonic information available for the study area, in an attempt to define zones which show not only a rather homogeneous seismicity release but also exhibit similar active faulting characteristics. For this reason, all available seismological information such as fault plane solutions and the corresponding kinematic axes have been incorporated in the analysis, as well as information about active tectonics, such as seismic and active faults. Moreover, various morphotectonic features (e.g. relief, coastline) were also considered. Finally, a revised seismic catalogue is employed and earthquake epicentres since historical times (550 BC–2008) are considered, in order to define areas of common seismotectonic characteristics, that could constitute a discrete seismic zone. A new revised model of 113 earthquake seismic zones of shallow earthquakes for the broader Aegean area is finally proposed. Using the proposed zonation model, a detailed study is performed for the catalogue completeness for the recent instrumental period. Using the defined completeness information, seismicity parameters (such as G–R values) for the 113 new seismic zones have been calculated, and their spatial distribution was also examined. The spatial variation of the obtained b values shows an excellent correlation with the geotectonic setting in the area, in good agreement with previous studies. Moreover, a quantitative estimation of seismicity is performed in terms of the mean return period, Tm, of large (M ≥ 6.0) earthquakes, as well as the most frequent maximum magnitude, Mt, for a typical time period (T = 50 yr), revealing significant spatial variations of seismicity levels within the study area. The new proposed seismic zonation model and its parameters can be readily employed for seismic hazard assessment for the broader Aegean area.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alik Ismail-Zadeh ◽  
Olympa Baro ◽  
Abhishek Kumar

<p>The Shillong Plateau is an earthquake-prone region in the northeastern India. Based on regional seismotectonic studies, we present the results of seismic hazard assessment, both deterministic (DSHA) and probabilistic (PSHA), and map peak horizontal accelerations (PHA) for three largely populated districts within the Shillong Plateau - the East Khasi hills, the Ri-Bhoi, and the West Garo hills. The hazard analysis methodology is based on the analysis of 72 earthquake sources (active faults) located within 500 km seismotectonic region around the plateau. Using an average sample log-likelihood approach, suitable ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) are identified. As a variation in hypocentral distances can affect the ranks (or weights) of selected GMPEs, DSHA is performed separately for the three selected districts. DSHA shows that the northern part of the East Khasi hills, eastern part of Ri-Bhoi district and the West Garo hills districts exhibit the highest PHA value. DSHA indicates that the Barapani, Oldham, and Dauki faults influence significantly the seismic hazard of the studied region. In the case of PSHA, the annual frequency of exceedance of ground motions for three populated cities (Shillong city, Nongpoh, and Tura), located within above three districts respectively, are determined. Individual hazard curves indicate that the Barapani fault possesses the highest frequency of seismic hazard for Shillong city and Nongpoh. At Tura, both Eocene hinge zone and Dauki faults are responsible for the highest frequency of seismic hazard. The results of the PSHA are compared with those obtained using the DSHA approach indicating a difference between the two approaches for the West Garo hills district. It is shown that this difference is associated with the Oldham fault located near the district. The fault can produce a great earthquake, although with a lower probability of occurrence compared to a few other faults capable of producing smaller events with higher probability of occurrence. Hence, in the PSHA, the effect of the Oldham fault is less pronounced in terms of the design life of a structure, than in the case of the DSHA.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 101815
Author(s):  
P. Alfaro ◽  
A. Sánchez-Alzola ◽  
I. Martin-Rojas ◽  
F.J. García-Tortosa ◽  
J. Galindo-Zaldívar ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Hintersberger ◽  
Kurt Decker ◽  
Johanna Lomax ◽  
Christopher Lüthgens

Abstract. Including faults into seismic hazard assessment depends strongly on their level of seismic activity. Intraplate regions are characterized by low seismicity, so that the evaluation of existing earthquake catalogues does not necessarily reveal all active faults that contribute to seismic hazard. In the Vienna Basin (Austria), moderate historical seismicity (Imax/Mmax = 8/5.2) concentrates along the left-lateral strike-slip Vienna Basin Transfer Fault (VBTF). In contrast, several normal faults branching out of the VBTF show neither historical nor instrumental earthquake records, although geomorphological data indicate Quaternary displacement along those faults. Here, we present a palaeoseismological dataset of three trenches crossing one of these splay faults, the Markgrafneusiedl Fault (MF), in order to evaluate the seismic potential of the fault. Comparing the observations of the different trenches, we found evidence for 5–6 major surface-breaking earthquakes during the last 120 ka, with the youngest event occurring at around ~ 14 ka before present. The inferred surface displacements lead to magnitude estimates ranging between M = 6.2 ± 0.3 and M = 6.8 ± 0.1. Data can be interpreted by two possible event lines, with event line 1 showing more regular recurrence intervals of about 20–25 ka between the earthquakes with M ≥ 6.5, and event line 2 indicating that such earthquakes cluster in two time intervals in the last 120 ka. Event line 2 appears more plausible. Trench observations also show that structural and sedimentological records of strong earthquakes with small surface offset have only low conservation potential. Vertical slip rates of 0.03–0.04 mm/a derived from the trenches compare well to geomorphically derived slip rates of 0.015–0.085 mm/a. Magnitude estimates from fault dimensions suggest that the largest earthquakes observed in the trenches activated the entire fault surface of the MF including the basal detachment that links the normal fault with the VBTF. The most important implications of these paleoseismological results for seismic hazard assessment are that: (1) The MF needs to be considered as a seismic source irrespective of the fact that it did not release historical earthquakes. (2) The maximum credible earthquakes in the Vienna Basin should be considered to be about M = 7.0. (3) The MF is kinematically and geologically equivalent to a number of other splay faults of the VBTF. It must be assumed that these faults are potential sources of large earthquakes as well. The frequency of strong earthquakes near Vienna is therefore expected to be significantly higher than the earthquake frequency reconstructed for the MF.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Pavlou ◽  
G. Kaviris ◽  
K. Chousianitis ◽  
G. Drakatos ◽  
V. Kouskouna ◽  
...  

Abstract. Seismic hazard assessment and seismicity changes are investigated in the Kozani–Grevena area, at the western margin of internal Hellenides in NW Greece. The region is of great interest, since it was characterized by very low seismic activity until 1995, when the "unexpected" Kozani–Grevena earthquake (Ms = 6.5) occurred. This event is of significant importance for Greece, since it, along with the 1999 Athens earthquake, initiated the modification of the Greek Building Code. In order to detect any seismicity changes, the seismicity of the region was divided into three time windows: the first up to 1973, the second from 1900 to 1994 and the third covering the entire instrumental period. For the above mentioned time windows, seismic hazard assessment was performed using the extreme values method. The results indicate an increase of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) values after the impoundment, with the exception of the area in the vicinity of the NE edge of the Dam. Before the occurrence of the 1995 event, the epicentral region also exhibited higher PGA values than before the impoundment. The most significant increase in PGA values is observed SE of the Polyphyto artificial lake, where the largest values are observed for the second and the third period. The coincident increase in the number of earthquakes and in the PGA values may be attributed to the impoundment of the Polyphyto Dam. The maximum expected magnitude is calculated by the extreme values method and Gumbel's third asymptotic distribution. The results reveal similar values of maximum expected magnitudes (Mmax = 6.5), independent of the seismicity rate, indicating that the 13 May 1995 earthquake was not an "unexpected" event, since the magnitude of an oncoming earthquake depends mainly on the tectonics of the region and the characteristics of the active faults.


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